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On Day 170, the Ringmaster will announce that she will be leaving the carnival for a visit to an 'ally', and that in the meantime everyone should just stay in the carnival grounds and wait for her to come back. She will shrug it off as being a simple matter, and say that it shouldn't take much time at all, and that it is something for the good of the carnival.
Of course, a few hours later, she will return with another announcement - actually, her... "ally", has "requested" that all of her underlings join her in visiting his castle while they negotiate the terms of a potential agreement. She will insist that it's a diplomatic affair, and that while really all that is required of everyone is to behave themselves and to not provoke the Prince's ire, it's extremely important that they listen to her this time. This announcement will be made by radio.
The evening of Day 170, everyone will be brought to an enormous manor house, apparently suspended in some kind of twilight void. They'll all be randomly assigned rooms in pairs of two (OOC RNG time!) and instructed to arrive for breakfast at 8AM sharp. Follow the schedule, be polite, and everything will be great.
Right? Right.
SETTING↴
Heartstone Manor is a spooky looking cross between a castle and a monastery, floating in the middle of realm filled with nothing else but empty twilight. Specifically, it is the home of a High Fae called The Prince - or so the Ringmaster will explain. He's one of the Wyld Fae, like she is, and when he fled from fae civilization eons ago, he hid himself away here to live in solitude as he saw fit. No one and nothing else lives here except for the Prince and his servants, and there is no visible sun - only stages between twilight and darkness.
The Manor itself is a massive stone construction, filled with old fashioned looking architecture and filled to the brim with art. Frescos, statues, and engravings line every hall, ranging from classical to abstract. The subject matter is almost always that of beautiful humanoids - in the form of fae, angels, and the more seductive forms of demons. The servants mostly appear to be traditionally beautiful as well. This seeming obsession with beauty is tied directly to the desires of the Prince himself.
While you are in his home, formal attire is mandatory. He will be gracious enough to provide everyone with appropriate wardrobe - that is, formal wear that could ambiguously fit anywhere from the 1500's to 1800's on Earth.
( MORE PLOT DETAILS BELOW ) |
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| PREPARATION↴
After leaving the previous location, and a few days before coming to Greysol, the Ringmaster puts a massive spell on the souls of every member of the carnival. Greysol is in a world where the souls of every human or sufficiently humanlike person takes the physical form of an animal. Plenty of characters wouldn’t qualify, but what’s the point of going to a dæmon world if not to show them what their inner selves look like?
The spell causes dæmons to form for most characters. They will wake up, either from sleep or a daze, with what appears to be an animal pressed against their hearts or equivalent important symbolic organs, but they will almost immediately understand that this is not an animal. This is part of them.
As dæmons are souls made physical they will have some element of characters’ soul color. At minimum their eyes are that color, and they may reflect some carnival changes, angelic/demonic nature, etc. For about a day their forms can change instantaneously into those of different animals. Children will remain like this, though there will probably be several preferred forms rather than randomness. Adults will ‘settle’ by the time the carnival arrives in Greysol, the number of forms they take dwindling until they become fixed on a single one. Look to the first comment for a more thorough explanation on dæmons.
The spell doesn’t work completely evenly. Some souls are more heavily insulated and do not become external. Players can opt out of dæmons this way and have a few options for their characters. A glamour butterfly in their souls’ colors can follow them while they’re in Greysol. Alternately, they become witches wearing bird pendants to symbolize dæmons supposedly far away. Characters with significant animalistic aspects may take the forms of panserbjørn - slightly anthropomorphized polar bears.
(If you don't want to type out dæmon - d & a e l i g ; m o n - all the time, daemon works too. It’s pronounced “demon”.)
SETTING↴
Can you imagine my astonishment at learning that part of my own nature was female, and bird-formed, and beautiful?
Greysol is a large coastal city that seems to roughly equate to late 20th century Western culture and mores, with a vaguely Victorian teslapunk-influenced aesthetic and somewhat uneven technology. Horse-drawn vehicles and just plain horses are common, but horseless automobiles and strangely 21st century-looking bicycles don’t cause too much of a stir. There are paved streets, skyscrapers, and electricity even if they call it "anbaric lighting". Hot air balloons and dirigibles can be seen in the sky. There are many moving picture theaters, black-and-white and with somewhat questionable sound, but small portable radios are common. Watches that bear a suspicious similarity to smartwatches are all the rage, though they are in fact simply watches and require winding.
Every human and witch in this world has an external soul which most cannot go more than about twenty feet from, and non-consensually touching someone else’s dæmon is tantamount to assault. This presents some logistical difficulties in a big city, but humans have built Greysol to accommodate their other halves. Doorways tend to be wide, stairs broad and shallow, there are huge freight elevators in most buildings, and sidewalks are quite broad with human and dæmon lanes, though small souls are usually carried and flying ones can easily just stay above. Slick floors are never seen without hoof-friendly traction rugs and the like. Some of the street traffic consists of people riding their horse or similar dæmons, and you may see a giraffe soul at a lope, keeping pace with the carriage carrying his body. City life is harder on people with especially large dæmons, but they manage okay.
( MORE BENEATH THE CUT! ) |
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This time, there is no preparation. When the Severing was broken, the Ringmaster immediately returned everyone to the carnival, no matter their earthly location - only to then drag the carnival's realm all the way to the Summerlands right after. As the workers arrive, they will have been scattered around the carnival grounds, back in their original bodies - including their old faerie changes, of course, plus perhaps a few new ones. Bodies and memories will return to what they were before Portland, and while the life they lived there will stay with them as memories, they will only now be left to fully contemplate what they just experienced.
SETTING↴
The Summerlands are an idyllic realm of glorious mountain-top cities and vast fields of flowers and grass. It is inhabited almost entirely by the Summer Fae, a faction of the Summer Court which broken ties with their Arcadia homeland a long time ago. Veterans that have been with the carnival since the vampire's first attack will remember staying here for a couple months while everyone was recovering. The fae here will remember those workers as well, with an accuracy that is sometimes eerie.
There is plenty to do in the Summer Fae's city - though there is far more space than there is people, given that there are only a few hundred fae present here. There is no shortage of good food, music, and dancing - with plenty of other amenities like waterfall-side pools and gardens filled with small miracles. All workers will be offered rooms they can stay in within the city if they prefer, but they are also welcome to stay within the carnival grounds if that makes them more comfortable. There is magical wildlife of various sorts, but none of it is particularly aggressive beyond basic predatory tendencies.
The days and nights and both of pleasant temperature and weather. It's only major downside is that the peaceful and unchanging nature of civilization can come across as unsettling to those unaccustomed. Once you have been welcomed here, it's like you never left.
( MORE PLOT DETAILS BELOW ) |
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Events leading up to this location will be as normal. After Mainframe, the carnival will go into its usual travelling/transitional period for a few days, with no particular warnings or expectations. Normally this would be where I explain how the characters will entering the setting and what they will immediately see, but this is not a normal occasion.
Mostly because no one will have any idea how or why the carnival entered this universe - in fact, they may not remember entering anywhere at all.
SETTING↴
Portland, USA is similar to the one of our modern earth in many ways, even if some of those are purely superficial. Importantly, it is the urban fantasy equivalent, meaning that standard city life is underlain with a complex civilization of 'supernaturals,' whose actions have the tendency to shake the world in unseen ways. It's a common formula in the multiverse, and some carnival workers may even come from a world much like it. The major difference here is this world in particular has managed to pull the carnival into its snare in an unprecedented way.
From the start of this visit an onward, the carnival will be rewritten into this world's rules - and in more than just a superficial sense. On day one, your characters will find themselves having awoken into completely new lives, with potentially no memory of anything that came before. How exactly this transition took place will start out unclear, and this will be a plot heavy narrative centered around investigation and the discovery of what has happened, and how those trapped here can leave.
Twenty five years ago, this world underwent a process sometimes know as "the Severing", in which a magical ritual of great power was used to severe the ties between earth and a number of otherworldly realms that had been cross-inhabiting it. The realms of faerie, heaven, and hell were disconnected entirely, stranding many of their members on earth with no way of returning home. The details of this ritual and its purpose are elusive, but its effects have spanned the globe.
Most supernatural stuff in this world is simply referred to as "magic", which is built upon an animistic reality in which all living creatures and all objects have some essence of "spirit" that can be interacted with. Casting and ritual magic is primarily centered upon esoteric means of interacting with these spirits in order to invoke various effects, while the magic of many supernatural creatures are considered to be innate traits of their species.
NOTE: This is a setting where magic is basically a "known secret", in that many people are factually aware of the supernatural, but it doesn't get talked about in public. Most people have probably seen something weird at some point in their life, but the supernatural is not officially recognized in society. Most of humanity does its best to try to pretend it doesn't exist, in order to avoid gaining the wrong kind of attention. So, you couldn't talk about doing magic on live TV, but there are a lot of places where you could get away with people seeing your supernatural traits if you keep to the 'underground.'
( A LOT MORE INFO TO FOLLOW ) |
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Only a small amount of preparation will be necessary for this visit. Early Day 90, everyone will be given a circular badge by the Ringmaster, who will tell you that you'll need to wear it if you plan on travelling to the new touring location. Where you wear it isn't important as long as it's accessible.
Later on Day 90, the Nightrunners will be sent out to do a quick security check of the new location - so, they'll be discovering all of this sooner than anyone else, and it will be their jobs to report on it. There are a few security concerns, which will be outlined OOCly for them in the comments below. As well as whatever can be gleaned from this general info post.
Entrance to the new location will be done with the transition portal through the woods, out through a "forested" area filled with weirdly low polygon trees. Glamours will be in effect, though the appearances of the locals are variable enough that appearances will not have to significantly change in a lot of cases.
SETTING↴
Mainframe is a city inside of a computer. No, not like the Matrix - as opposed to a virtual reality simulation that the denizens think is real life, it really is a civilization of programs that know what they are and live accordingly. In contrast, the local's perception of any world outside of the Net is very hazy, and "the User" (IE, the beings that actually use the computers they live in) is seen as either a god-like entity or malevolent demon, depending on who you ask. Either way, the User is most often something the inhabitants of the Net are forced to combat rather than cooperate with. Life within the Net is the only world they know, and the Ringmaster will advise that you leave it that way, or else they'll probably get all weird about it.
The Net is actually a real, physical plane of existence for those inside of it, so visitors from the carnival will be under the same threat of injury or death that they would be otherwise. The programs have very different biological features (or a lack thereof), of course, but the glamours will be able to conceal these differences as long as no one does anything really weird like bleeding all over the place. This also means that you'll be able to take objects back into the carnival as souvenir, and that they won't just poof into metaphysical data when you leave. Weird, though.
This isn't the exact Mainframe as in the show, to be clear. There is a different Guardian and different viruses at play, for those familiar. Aesthetically and culturally, however, it is very familiar - though about three times the population size. Ostensibly they are without those 90's animation budgets.
( MORE PLOT DETAILS BELOW ) |
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On Day 73, what remains of the Nightrunners will be asked to enter the new location first, to do a cursory security check. The Ringmaster isn't very concerned about this location for various reasons, but she will mention that there are a number of potentially powerful creatures that may or may not cause a fuss, so that they should check out the area to see if anything has been happening recently. In particular there are the guardian dieties that protect each island, and extra planar creatures called Ultra Beasts, but there shouldn't be any problem with either of them in the present timeline.
On Day 74 the new location will be open for visiting by the carnival workers. There will be a gateway through the trees that allows entry and exiting, and since the populus here is primarily normal humans, those with inhuman features will be disguised with a fae glamour that makes it so they will not stick out. Usually this means that the locals will see them as something fitting to their environment, while to other carnival workers they will appear the same as usual. For humans with fae traits, they will generally appear as they regular human forms, and for those that are more exotic their glamour image will usually end up as the closest approximate.
SETTING↴
Alola is a series of four islands on a planet reminiscent to but still fairly distinct from Earth. The most notable feature of this planet is that it is the home of a highly variable species of elemental creatures called Pokemon that live and work closely with the human natives. Pokemon take many forms, from something as simple to pigeon-like birds to something as grandiose as powerful elemental gods. Though the humans are very similar to the humans of other worlds, the culture of Alola and the other geographical regions tends towards the ideals of cooperation and kindness. Pollution is insignificant and scientific phenomenon like global warming have completely failed to occur due to scientific advancements and the civilization's predisposition towards problem solving.
While technology is more advanced that modern Earth, with things like cloning technology, hovering vehicles, and subspace storage in common usage, life among the general populace has remained simple and often quite picturesque. That isn't to say that the humans and Pokemon of this world are unfamiliar with concepts such as poverty or war, but they are less common than average from a multiversal perspective. Importantly, the people of Alola tend towards being friendly and helpful no matter who you are, and have a tendency to give out gifts to strangers for no reason what-so-ever.
( MORE PLOT DETAILS BELOW ) |
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As Day 57 comes to a close, it would seem that no one has taken the Ringmaster's time of weakness against her - and boy, is she thrilled out it! Her explanation of those events will be covered by an IC post, but suffice to say, she was touched by each and every show of loyalty and care that she received from her workers during that time. It surpassed even her wildest expectations! As such, she will announce, she is going to take the carnival somewhere she personally considers very fun, as a reward for their service and to celebrate the end of the second full month of the carnival's new season.
There will be a couple day's journey between dimensional locations, during which the Ringmaster will take the opportunity to get into some further nonsense with the supervisors that will be handled in another post. After that, on Day 60, the carnival will sync itself to a new dimensional realm, one that she claims of the home of an endless party that has been going on for centuries. Whether or not that sounds awesome probably depends on your personality, but once you've been escorted from the carnival to the Celebration's grounds, you'll discover that it really does have something for everyone.
Workers will be free to enjoy all of what the Celebration has to offer, leading up to a grand masquerade ball at the end of the week. That said, they should put costume shopping on their list of things to do - thankfully, free clothes in many exciting styles are one of this location's key features.
SETTING↴
The Celebration is apparently some kind of pocket dimension, passingly connected to many realms but not fully part of any of them. The entirety of its universe lies within the walls of some kind of grand resort - organized and run in a way similar to a cruise ship, to anyone familiar. Of course, in this case, there is no ocean and there are no tourist stops. It's just glamorous hall after glamorous hall, filled with fine liquor, fine food, and luxury, luxury, luxury. Rooms are pristine, messes are cleaned up before you can call for a maid, and all the Host asks for in return is your enjoyment.
Pretty sweet deal, right? Right.
Upon entering the Celebration's realm, the wait staff will be ready for you. Carnival members will be escorted to their rooms, in the pairs already determined by their trailer park arrangements. They'll be able to bring whatever belongings they wish along from their trailer, but after they've arrived there will be minimal travel between the carnival and the Celebration grounds, so you better pack smart. You're going to be in for a trip.
Not least because the gilded exterior of Celebration life hides some troubling realities which the Ringmaster may be too damn fae to notice.
( MORE PLOT DETAILS BELOW ) |
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There isn't actually a lot of preparation leading up to Atlantis - at least not on the part of any of the workers. The Ringmaster, it would seem, has been preparing for it on her own, and the first anyone will be hearing about it is when they wake up with the carnival inexplicably underwater on the morning of Day 44. Also, they will have magically mutated into having fish parts, mermaid style.
Just what kind of fish parts they end up with is infinitely variable, and doesn't even have to stay restricted to fish, technically speaking. Any aquatic creature will suffice, whether that be dolphins, seals, crabs, shrimp, eels, squid, or anything else that would fit beneath the ocean. Even if you choose to base your mutations on a mammal that regularly requires air to survive, they won't need to go above water in this case. Everyone can breathe underwater equally, and so other physical changes will be mostly aesthetic and/or just affect the way they swim.
Character cannot ICly pick their mer forms - what they change into and how much they change is entirely an OOC decision. You can go for the full fish tail, or just webbed digits, gills, and a swimmer body. It doesn't really matter, as long as they function in the ocean.
Naturally, the suddenness of all this may be quite alarming, and it will seem that the decision to come here was very impulsive on the Ringmaster's part. Even if your character doesn't usually sleep, they will find themselves having drifted off during the transition period between there being water and no water. The Ringmaster will explain to those concerned that everything is safely waterproofed via enchantment, and all of the carnival equipment will work the same as it did before. It's just... underwater now. Huh.
SETTING↴
Atlantis is an underwater city within that the Ringmaster has describe as a "primordial ocean realm" that has no surface and no land above the sea. It is apparently connected, in small amounts, to many other oceans across the multiverse, and ships and other ocean vessels have a tendency to sink into it, Bermuda Triangle style, allowing the merfolk there to gather sunken treasure from across all of existence. The city itself is shockingly grand and elaborate for something that was apparently constructed underwater.
The Ringmaster has indicated that merfolk are some distant cousin to the fae, and the magic within the place will feel familiar to what exists within the carnival. Along with the merfolk inhabiting it, there is a large variety of other sea creatures and monsters that live in the surrounding areas. It's not clear how far the ocean stretches, but it feels effectively infinite. The carnival has located smack-dab in the middle of a beautiful underwater park within the city, and has physically merged with the local realm as opposed to remaining separate as it usually does. Tall underwater plants have replaced the barrier of trees.
( MORE PLOT DETAILS BELOW ) |
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There isn't much in way of special preparations required for this visit, as the Ringmaster will do most of it herself. After three travel days, on the morning of Day 22, there will be a selection of wired phone receivers hanging organically from the trees lining the carnival's entrance. Entering the Matrix is simple, the Ringmaster will explain. Just put the phone to your ear and then let it ring.
She will give people the general rundown of what the Matrix is, and the situation between the robots and the humans, not that she seems to think it's her business to help out. Yet, at the same time, she's all too willing to provoke people in trying to help the natives give the opportunity. The next week is a vacation week - for now, people are free to experience this digital version of modern Earth as much as they please.
► NIGHTRUNNERS: The Nightrider's crew will be allowed into the Matrix at the same time as everyone else, but the Ringmaster will be giving them a particular mission. While everyone else goes to do their thing, she wants the Nightrunners to get a read on the activity of the Agents and Resistance members within the Matrix, and keep an eye on how close they are getting to touring carnival members. It is the Nightrider's job to try to keep things stable, and to bring the fight to the robots if they need it.
SETTING↴
The Matrix is a digital world created by the robotic overlords of a dystopic future version of Earth. It was created in order to imprison and enslave the human race as living batteries - the virtual world within the Matrix is meant to stimulate human minds into creating an energy source with the power of their brainwaves, because that is apparently how it works in this universe. Humans are grown and implanted into this virtual world from birth while robots rule the Earth on the outside. Only a tiny fraction of humanity lives in the real world, a small guerrilla army that lives deep beneath the Earth's crust and fights for human freedom in both the physical and digital realms.
( SPOILER: THERE IS NO SPOON ) |
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► DREAMCATCHERS: Starting on S1:D8 the Ringmaster will be urging people to turn in any dreamcatchers they’ve made, as they’ll be needing them soon. (Which can be done here as a quick reminder!) To clarify, how long your activity sample needs to be in order for the dreamcatchers to count for the reward is entirely reliant on how many you want to turn in. To turn in 5-9 dreamcatchers, anything will do, even if it’s just one or two tags. To turn in 10-14, you’ll need a bit more, like in the 5-10 range. Any more than that (say 15 or 20, at a maximum) will require multiple valid threads adding up to at least 15+ tags from you.
Most importantly, please do what is realistic for your character. The tag requirements are mostly just to avoid having people arbitrarily claim their character has made several dozen of them, when realistically these characters have other things to be doing. (Since IC rewards are on the table.) However, that doesn’t mean mod judgement is going to be super harsh, so don’t stress about it too much.
► THE NIGHTRUNNERS: As of S1:D7, Nightrider Mari and her crew will be sent out to the new world to verify its safety for the carnival. As the Ringmaster will explain to them, it’s not expected to be a problem - she is already familiar with the ruler of this realm, a being called Morpheus, and they have been expecting the carnival’s visit. The mission will be mostly based around checking things out to ensure they have not become unduly dangerous, and to meet with Morpheus and inform them that the carnival has arrived. All of the Nightrunners will be aware of the setting information in advance of anyone else. If you want to thread it out, you are welcome to make a log for it as well. If your Nightrunner character will be looking for anything in particular, you can ask those questions by any of the available mod contacts - these can be questions directly asked of Morpheus, as well.
► THE SCHEDULE: From S1:D8 to S1:D10 no patrons from the Dream Realm will be entering the carnival, and the only contact will be from carnival workers willingly choosing it tour it out of curiosity. There will be a gateway available near the main entrance of the carnival that can be crossed simply by willing yourself to. As of S1:D11, the carnival gates will be opening, and the inhabitants of the realm will be entering to enjoy the sights as part of the first Performance Week! Hopefully everyone is ready to perform their roles, because the time has come to put into action.
SETTING↴
The Realm of Dreams is a place that makes very little sense geographically, and that is constantly changing in appearance and form.This is because it is not, in fact, a physical reality - instead it is a psychic realm made from the dreams of beings all across the multiverse. Not all beings dream here, finding this particular dream realm is actually quite rare, but with the endless possibilities of visitors comes a seemingly endless population. Completely different pieces of scenery can be seen blending together with little rhyme or reason, and for those unused to this kind of thing, just existing within it can be a bit of unnerving headache.
( LONG POST INCOMING ) |
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